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Summary

This clear, well-organized overview of theoretical ethics employs a contemporary tone and framework. Multicultural coverage and attention to college students' moral development help readers relate the material to their own experience and their own moral growth. Both scholarly and practical, this text aims to significantly improve students' ability to make real-life moral decisions.

Table of Contents

The Study of Ethics

Ethics: An Overview

What is Ethics?

Normative and Theoretical Ethics

Philosophy and the Search for Wisdom

Reading: Plato, "Allegory of the Cave"

Metaphysics and the Study of Human Nature

Moral Knowledge: Can Moral Beliefs Be True?

Reading: A.J. Ayer, "Emotivism"

Moral Reasoning

The Three Levels of Thinking

Moral Analysis, Praxis, and Paradigm Shifts

Overcoming Resistance

Reading: 1984 by George Orwell

Recognizing and Constructing Moral Arguments

Avoiding Logical Fallacies

Resolving Moral Dilemmas

Reading: Mary Midgley, Can't We Make Moral Judgments?

A Final Word

Ethical Relativism

Chapter 3

What is Ethical Subjectivism?

What Ethical Subjectivism Is Not

Reading: Stephen A. Satris, "Student Relativism"

The Roots of Ethical Subjectivism in Romantic Sentimentalism

Reading: Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile

The Kitty Genovese Syndrome

Critique of Ethical Subjectivism

Cultural Relativism: Is Morality Dependent on Culture?

What is Cultural Relativism?

Distinguishing Between Cultural and Sociological Relativism

Social Darwinian Ethics: The Concept of Moral Progress

Ruth Benedict: Cultural Relativism as a Protest Against Social Darwinism

Reading: Ruth Benedict, "Anthropology and the Abnormal"

Cultural Relativism and the Moral Community

Reading: "We Are All Related" by Eagle Man

Cultural Relativism, Cross-Cultural Criticism, and Moral Progress

The Holocaust and Disillusionment with Cultural Relativism

Critique of Cultural Relativism

Beyond Ethical Relativism

Is Morality Grounded in Religion?

Religion and Morality

The Divine Command Theory

Reading: "Euthyphro" by Plato

Natural Law Theory

Reading: Thomas Aquinas, The Summa Theologica

Critique of Divine Command Theory

Critique of Natural Law Theory

Religion, Natural Law Theory, and Civil Disobedience

Civil Religion and Cultural Relativism

Religion and the Moral Community

God and the Problem of Evil

Does Morality Need Religion?

Conscience and Moral Development

Ethics and the Study of Human Development

Conscience: Culturally Relative or Universal?

The Affective and Cognitive Sides of the Conscience

Lawrence Kohlberg: The Stage Theory of Moral Development

Reading: Lawrence Kohlberg, The Philosophy of Moral Development

Carol Gilligan: The Care Perspective

Reading: Carol Gilligan, In a Different Voice

James Rest: The Four Components of Moral Behavior

Moral Maturity: Moving Beyond Ethical Relativism

Morality as Universal

Ethical Egoism: Morality Is Acting in Our Best Self-Interest

What is Ethical Egoism?

Reading: Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan

Psychological Egoism

Ayn Rand: Objectivist Ethics and Rational Egoism

Reading: Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead

Ethical Egoism and Laissez-Faire Capitalism

Ethical Egoism and the Moral Community

Self-Interest and Happiness

Critique of Ethical Egoism

Utilitarianism: The Greatest Happiness Principle

Utilitarianism and the Principle of Utility

Mo Tzu: Utilitarianism as Universal Love

Jeremy Bentham: Utilitarianism and Social Reform

Reading: Jeremy Bentham, An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation

John Stuart Mill: Reformulation of Utilitarianism

Reading: John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism and the Moral Community

Euthanasia and the Principle of Utility: Is Death Always Harm?

Critique of Utilitarianism

Deontology: The Ethics of Duty

Deontology and Duty

Confucius: Duty and the Community

Reading: Arthur Waley, trans., The Analects of Confucius

Immanuel Kant: The Categorical Imperative

READING: Immanuel Kant, Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Ethics